After school, we headed to the gym and sat down together. I had taken out my sketchbook and explained what I needed, a weapon. "Rather than designing a whole separate weapon... I'd say it would be better to implement it in your existing hero costume," he finally said after thinking for awhile. I nodded in agreement, designing a completely different weapon would probably be troublesome, it would be easier to make modifications to my costume instead.

  "All I have so far are hidden blades to give me an easier alternative to use my quirk, it's faster too. But what can I do to also turn it into a weapon of some sort?" I pondered, tapping my slender fingers against the cold and smooth vinyl flooring of the gym. We both stared at thin air as we started to think of ideas and we pretty much became silent. And then my mind wandered off to this morning where we had embraced each other for what seemed like forever and how he had cupped my face as if he were going to lean in towards me and...

  Instinctively, I shook my head as my face became flushed at that thought. What are you thinking?! I slowly turned to look at Shoto and, as I expected, he was looking at me oddly. "Are you okay?" He interrupted my train of thoughts as his narrowed eyes looked at me with suspicion.

  "Erm.. Yeah, I just thought of something embarrassing," I quickly sputtered and immediately looked away.

  "Well, I think I have an idea," he changed the topic real fast, thank god. "You said you have hidden blades right?" My ears perked up as I nodded. "Which means that your enemies don't know they're there. And judging by last time's matches, most of the fights were pretty close ranged. Perhaps you can add in more blades at other areas that are triggered by touch. If anyone ever lays a finger on you, a blade will immediately slice through their skin, that way, you can make your enemies avoid close ranged with you which is your quirk's weakness," he elaborated thoroughly, "the blade will immediately go back into its hidden spot again though which means it will come out in a blink of an eye, your enemy won't be able to catch it with his eyes fast enough."

  My eyes lit up. "That's a really good idea! It reminds me of a cactus, but its spines are hidden," I concluded before I started sketching his idea out onto my hero costume sketch that I had drawn earlier on. I added little small sockets containing the blades around my costume, I also had its mechanism already in my mind. All I had to do was to put it in action. "Thanks Shoto," I looked up at him only to see his fixated gaze already on me. He quickly turned away. "Well... I'm done now, I'll drop my modification request and my sketches of your idea off at the office after our training, should we start now?" I added, smiling at him, I didn't know why I was smiling, maybe I was just happy to be here with him.

  What soon followed after that was an exhausting physical training. I polished my ability to read an opponent's actions and how to decide what to do next. He taught me new kinds of attacking methods and areas on the body that I can hit in order to put my opponent in a daze. One of them was the crotch, especially if it's a guy, nice, I'll make sure to use that. Time flew past fast. Before I knew it, it was already 8.30pm. Wow. I was the first one to notice the time. We quickly packed up before making our way to the office, thankfully it was still open. I attached the modification form to my sketch before dropping it off in a box at the front of the office. I was really excited on how this idea will turn out. We hurriedly made our way out of the school.

  Somehow, I felt weird, it felt like someone was... following us. If it weren't for Shoto by my side, I would have fully freaked out by now. Without thinking, I held on to Shoto's hand. He looked at me in confusion as I gripped it tighter. "S-sorry," I whispered and let go. We continued walking peacefully in silence. Until I heard a faint sound of footsteps behind us. I quickly turned my head, side glancing to see who was behind, however, there was nobody. Was I just imagining things? That must be the case. And then the sounds came back, this time, I felt nervousness starting to go off in me. I gripped onto Shoto's arm this time. "Shoto, I feel like there's someone following us," I whispered as we both stopped. He turned around to look, it seemed like we were the only one walking on the sidewalk, there didn't seem to be anybody else.

  He held my hand in his before we started walking off, fast. Instead of going straight like our normal route was, he turned into an alleyway. The alleyway that he had saved me from last time. We both stood there, waiting to see if that person had lost us. Abruptly, the sound of a tin can dropping onto the hard ground made me flinch. We both quickly turned to look at the direction of the sound and saw a pair of amber eyes glowing in the darkness. It came into the light and it was... a cat. "It's just a cat, (Y/N), you're fine," he reassured me as I heaved a sigh of relief. Why was I so paranoid in the first place?

  I looked down. "Sorry for causing unnecessary trouble," I apologised as I bit my lip nervously. Unexpectedly, he patted my head, I looked up at him in incredulity.

  "It's fine, don't apologise for little things like this," he uttered in a gentle tone. The end of his lips went up, as if he was about to smile, however, I saw his expression change into an unreadable one. His eyes were darting around as he moved away from me. A silhouette of a person caught my attention, however, it disappeared.

  "I think someone really is following us," my voice started to shake in fear. My hand automatically went into my pocket as it gripped the cold handle of my penknife. I saw Shoto looking into a distance, he was frozen, his feet were rooted to the ground, and it looked like he was staring into something, into someone's eyes. "S-Shoto?" I said in hushed tones. I stepped out and looked at the same direction he was looking, I saw a figure on the sidewalk opposite of where we were walking at just now. He wore all black, so I couldn't see him clearly, his body seemed familiar. And then it hit me. Arata. "Shoto, did you look into his eyes?! Shoto!" I yelled, he didn't budge. If Arata did the same thing to him as he did to me three years ago-

  Before I could even finish my thought, Shoto had shoved me against the wall. No, Arata didn't want to make Shoto kill himself like what he did to me back then, he wanted Shoto to kill me. My back slammed against the wall, my legs turned weak as I fell helplessly onto the cold, cold ground. There was nothing I could do to stop Shoto, it was Arata's quirk, there was no way to reverse it. I tried escaping, but I felt him grabbing my arm and freezing it, I screamed in pain for no one to hear. This is it. Arata is going to end me again.

  With my other hand, I clutched his shoulder. "Shoto, please listen to me! Snap out of it! You're affected by Arata's quirk," I said breathlessly as he continued turning my entire arm into nothing but ice. "Please! I'm (Y/N)!" I begged, however, it was useless. "It hurts so much," I continued whimpering, this wasn't the way I wanted to die. I tried to reach for my pocket where my penknife is, but it was too late. It was already clasped in Shoto's hand as he pushed the razor sharp blade out. How ironic, I sharpened it this morning, never did I imagined that I would get murdered by it. Murdered by my own friend like how it almost happened three years ago. I tried one last time. "Shoto, it's me, (Y/N)! Please just snap out of it! This is Arata's doing!" I continued beseeching as if it was going to work. I tried to stop him by pushing his hand away from me but I earned a hard kick in my stomach instead.

  Tears started streaming out of my eyes as I stared into his. My lips trembled and my eyes burned as I tried to keep my tears at bay, but to no avail. All I could see in his once gentle eyes were murderous intentions. I reached out with my other hand for his face and caressed his cheek. In the next moment, I expected him to plunge that blade deep into my guts. Instead, the penknife slipped out of his hand and dropped onto the ground, creating echoes of it in the empty alleyway. He let go of me as he backed off. I stared, expecting him to lurch forward and perhaps strangle me to death instead. However, he was clutching his head painfully as he leaned against the wall opposite of me. "S-Shoto?" I mouthed. He finally calmed down as he put his hands down, he was still looking down and he was breathing heavily as if he just ran a marathon. His shirt stuck to his muscular body as I realised, he was also sweating, a lot.

  I slowly approached him, I could hear my heart rapidly pounding in my ears. Unexpectedly, he looked up at me. I got startled, and then the next moment, his arms were wrapped around my shaking body. "I'm so sorry," he intoned, "I don't know what happened, I wasn't in control of my entire body and all I could do was watch what horrible things I did to you," he said into my ear while he embraced me tighter. I realised the ice circling around my arm was gone and melted away, it must be his warmth. I hugged him back even tighter.

  "Shoto, it's okay," I patted his back.

  "What do you mean it's okay? I almost killed you," he mumbled, a hint of fear laced through his words.

  "Shoto, just breathe. I'm still alive, aren't I?" I tried to reassure him as I continued stroking his sweaty back. I didn't care that he was filthy, I didn't care at all. All I care about is him. He stopped breathing heavily, it was now at a much more steady pace. We let go of each other. His gaze was so intense, I didn't know how much longer I could look at him. His eyes were full of concern while his hair was in disarray. He was covered in cold sweat. His arms were suddenly around my waist as he pulled me closer to him.

  "I promise I'll protect you, I won't let anyone harm you anymore," he spoke softly as he held my chin up. "I'll protect you from all the things I've seen."

  I took a deep breath. Before I could even reply, his lips were on mine and the world fell away. It was slow and soft, comforting in ways that words would never be. His hand rested below my ear, his thumb caressing my cheek as our breaths mingled. I ran my fingers down his spine, pulling him closer until there was no space left between us and all I could hear was the steady pace of his heartbeat that was beating rapidly not too long ago. I was completely unprepared. You would think that after all the hours I spent with him, watching him talk, smile and frown, that I would know all there was to know about his lips. But I had not imagined how warm they would feel pressed against my own. The ground seemed to sway under my feet.

  As soon as we parted, I couldn't stand on my own. My legs gave way, he caught me on time as I wrapped my arms around his neck. "Sorry, I got too... shocked," I uttered, every part of me was trembling as I smiled. He smiled gently at me too as we both stood together. He started eyeing me from top to bottom. "What are you doing?" I asked carefully, surely he isn't doing what I think he's doing...?

  "I just wanted to make sure you aren't badly injured," he quickly replied when he figured out what I was thinking. I smirked at him. "I swear!" He backed up his answer. I couldn't help but laugh at him.

  I picked up my penknife from the ground and kept it into my pocket. "Let's go home, it's late," I insisted, still smiling. He nodded and we both left.

  We had finally reached my house. Before he left, "Let's walk to school together tomorrow?" He asked, I immediately agreed. I waved him goodbye before he finally left. Stepping into the house, I couldn't stop thinking about what had happened. And a question still lingers, how did he manage to break out of Arata's spell?

Writer's note

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Finally something happening between Shoto and the reader ;) I'll try to update as frequently as I can! Thank you for reading my fanfic and I'll see you in the next chapter ^o^